Broken Road
by Darlin Companion
Summary: Call Troy Bolton crazy, most people would. He had walked across the country to find a woman he knew nothing about except for what she looked like from the picture he carried. The picture that was believed to have kept him safe while in Iraq.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters, names, places, anything from High School Musical or Disney. This story is copyright to the owner and may not be used without permission. I in no way affiliated with any of the High School Musical Cast, Disney, Kenny Ortega or Peter Barsocchini. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. Also, I do not own "The Luck One" by Nicholas Sparks.

**AN: **This story was inspired by/based off of "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks. It will _not_ be his book re-written word for word with HSM characters thrown in. As the story moves along I'm hoping to give it a life of its own. Enjoy!

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Call Troy Bolton crazy, most people would. He had walked from his home in South Carolina across the country to New Mexico because of a photograph. The photo that had kept him safe while he served in Iraq. The photo that didn't belong to him. He didn't know who it belonged to or who the woman shown was. She had long brunette hair and brown eyes, wearing a shirt with UNM on it. He guessed her to be in her early twenties at the time it was taken. A german sheperd stood by her side. The background showed some sort of fair or carnival with food stalls and outlines of various rides. There was a short message on the back of the picture. "Keep safe. -G"

When it was found, the picture was posted on the bulletin board for its owner to claim but after a few weeks it was still hanging so Troy took it down. He thought that it would've been snatched up within the day of the posting. Being away from your family and friends for so long could make a person go crazy so the little things like that mattered just a little more.

The night he took the photograph back, Troy won more than a few games of poker even though he had never played half as much as the other guys. Not much was thought of it until Chad had mentioned something about it bringing luck. Chad was the kind of guy who normally joked around and lighten the mood. For some reason though, he became serious when it came to superstitious things. Kind of like athletes who believed the unwashed pair of socks they wore was what kept them "hot" during winning streaks then burned the same pair once something went wrong. So Troy entertained him and went along. Soon enough he too bought into the luck of the picture.

It was what happened after they got discharged from Iraq that made him pack up and start his journey with his dog Ace to find the woman. But that was a whole other story. One he didn't really want to think or talk about.

---

After checking into his hotel and dropping his bag off, Troy took Ace to find a place to eat. It didn't take long before they had found a little sandwhich shop. Dogs weren't allowed in so Troy left Ace to nap outside promising to bring him back something when he was done with his own meal. While he ate his burger Troy thought about what he was going to do next.

He had studied the photograph carefully and did some research before starting his trip. UNM most likely stood for The University of New Mexico and the hot dog stand in the background reading 'Albuquerque's Best Dogs' somewhat reinforced that. But still, those two facts alone didn't give anything. She could've been a tourist instead of a local. The shirt she was wearing could've belonged to a friend or relative. So there was a chance she didn't go to UNM. He had found the picture years ago so even if the woman had gone to the college and been from Albuquerque there was a chance she had moved to another city, state, maybe even another country.

If she really was here, he had a plan...or the closest thing to one. The photo was found in 2003 and now she was probably in her late twenties, maybe even early thirties. Albuquerque had a population of around ten thousand people. He gave twenty-five hundred of those to the under twenty category, and 3,200 to those who were 20 to 30. Give half of that for males and half for females and he had successfully cut ten-thousand to sixteen hundred people. Still a lot but it was less than before. There was a chance all the numbers were way off since math was never his best subject, but he had the picture. If Chad was right then its luck gave him kind of chance, even if it was a slim one. Plus, he had walked all the way here and there was no use in leaving without trying. No matter how foolish this whole thing seemed.

After finishing his food, Troy ordered a burger to-go for Ace and took it outside to watch him gobble it up in two minutes. "Glad you enjoyed it."

As they started to wander around town Troy thought about the best way of going at this. It would come off as strange for him to just go up to strangers and ask if they had seen her. It would be even worst if he asked women, they'd be more suspicious. Then again some men would be just as much, unless they had a bit of alcohol in them. Troy decided to backtrack to the bar he had passed earlier.

It felt like all eyes turned towards him when Troy walked in. Ace had stayed outside, it was pretty certain dogs weren't allowed but even if they were he was sure bringing his dog in wouldn't make a great first impression on some. The place was somewhat small so he didn't blame people for looking, it would be hard to ignore the bell the rang when the front used.

"Hey, mind if I join in?" The guys that were gathered around the table gave him a questioning look. He guessed they thought that they had known everyone in town, or everyone that came around to this place anyway.

"Sure, if you got some money." The man in a blue shirt said, as one of the other guys started setting up while others started pulling out their money putting it all under a half empty beer bottle. Troy played along with the guys giving wins when needed, and offered to pay for some of the beer. Eventually, the other guys loosened up and stopped giving him looks. About an hour in Troy casually pulled the picture out of his pocket while getting more money for another round.

"What's that you got there?"

"Oh just a picture I got while back. I met the girl and she said if I'm ever in town to look her up. Sad part is I lost her name and number"

"You don't remember her name?" One asked skeptically.

"Like I said, its been a while."

"Well, give it here. One of us have got to know her." All the other guys huddled around as Troy held out the picture. He noticed the skinny one who looked to still be in puberty with all the zits on his face turned frantic for a second before calming again.

"Oh you don't wanna mess with her. She doesn't date, her ex wouldn't like it." Troy nodded nonchalantly slipping it back into his pocket. He stuck around for a bit longer to ease any suspicions they might have had. It didn't stop the skinny man from excusing himself and using the pay phone on the other side of the poll hall to call someone while eyeing Troy. He concluded that the other person on the line was either the woman in the photograph or someone that knew her.

"_Hey Collin? I'm at Staplers poll hall and there's some guy here with a picture of your ex wife."

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**AN:** Sorry for the grammar and spelling errors. I don't have a beta so when you proof-read your own stuff you know what should be there so you just overlook it. I hope you all liked this chapter! Reviews would be nice :)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Thank you for the reviews last chapter!

I forgot to mention in the first chapter so here's a quick little note. I did quick research on Albuquerque and know that it's a huge city unlike the small town I'm making it in this story. Just randomly throwing that out there. Hope you like the chapter!

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It was probably as hot inside as it was outside. The temperature was nearing triple digits and with the humidity, Gabi found it hard to breathe at times. When Gran had the air put in she decided to just ignore everything but the dogs, saying that the office could be cooled down if the door to the kennel was opened to let the air out. There was no chance Gabi was going to do that. As much as she loved dogs all of them barking and howling would be worst than the heat. So she sat thinking of places like Alaska and things like ice cream while waiting for owners to come pick up their pets.

Now Gran was normally the one who ran the kennel. When grandpa had passed away a few years back Gran insisted she could still run the whole thing by herself with a little bit of help. But ever since the stroke some months back, she spent less time running the business with Gabi taking care of things. Soon enough Gabriella found herself running the place almost full time during the summer months when her job at the local elementary school was on hold. They had tried to hire some help but nobody found scooping poop pleasurable, so the longest anyone had stayed was two weeks. That made Gabi worry a lot. School would be starting soon so unless a long-time employee was found, Gran would be here all by herself while Gabi and Kyle were at school.

Kyle. She wished her son was here right now, but he was at his dad's. Gabi sighed when she thought of her ex-husband, Collin Hampton. She hated making Kyle go spend time with him since he didn't like it anymore than his dad. Collin was one of the sheriffs in town and believed that all boys should be strong. He believed that they should love sports, and rough housing. Kyle loved to read, play chess, and wanted to learn the violin. Sports was once included in that list but his dad always pushed him too hard. Collin never thought he was good enough, so Kyle simply stopped trying. Gabi didn't understand why he couldn't be happy with the son he had. Kyle was a wonderful child, it shouldn't have mattered if he was more into books than a baseball.

Kyle had to deal with his dad because they had joint custody, and the Hamptons owned and worked just about everything in town. They could beat her in the courts any day. Plus there wasn't anything to hold against Collin. There would be no use trying to get full custody.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice someone walk into the office. He was frozen at the door and staring as if he recognized her but she couldn't remember him if her life had depended on it. There was a German Shepherd by his side, it reminded Gabi of Max.

"Welcome. I don't think you called but fill this out and we can check your dog in." She said sliding the form across the counter towards him. The man shook his head walking towards her, trying to stop from continuing his stare.

"I'm not here to drop him off. I saw the help wanted sign in the window."

"Oh well let me grab you an application then." After some quick digging through the file cabinet she placed the paper in front of him along with a pen, and watched him start filling it out.

"I'm just got to town but I can put the address and room to the hotel I'm staying at, and my mom's place back in South Carolina if you want" He said looking up from writing. This Troy Bolton as his application said was giving her a nervous feeling.

"You're from South Carolina? Why are you here? Not to be rude but most people don't just randomly move to Albuquerque. They try to get out of this town."

"I just decided it seems like a nice place." Yeah, something was definitely off about this guy.

"Just put whatever you can." Gabi waited until he had his head down again before looking out the window, no car. "So how was the flight over?"

"I walked." If that didn't cause red flags to go up, nothing would. Did he just say that he walked here?

"You walked from South Carolina? From across the country? Then decided to stop here because it seemed nice to you?" She asked skeptically.

"Here" He reached into his back pockets and pulled out his passport, letting Gabriella look it over. His name really was Troy Bolton and the picture shown was him. It also showed that he was in the Marines. That didn't settle her feelings though.

"If you just got here how did you know we were hiring? I didn't put an ad in the paper this week."

"I was walking with Ace yesterday and when he heard dogs barking he ran this way. I followed and saw the sign but when I looked though the window nobody was here so I decided to come back later." It was a believable story but he could be lying, or at the least leaving some details out. Giving a quick glance at his application she saw that he was a college graduate. Why would a college educated man walk across the country, stop in a small town because it seemed nice, and take a job that he probably knew wouldn't pay as well as the many others he could get.

"Look, am I wasting my time filling the rest of this out?"

"I don't know" She answered honestly, "If you don't mind waiting, I'm gonna run next door and talk to my grandmother about this first. She's the owner of this place."

"Go ahead." Troy followed Gabriella outside and sat on the steps with Ace while she headed to the house next door.

---

"Gran? I know you're still watching the game but can you help me with something?"

"Sure sweetie, they're playing like rabbits anyway," Gabi guessed that wasn't a good thing by her tone, "I'll just turn it off now so I don't have to hear them make up excuses. You want some lemonade? I made it earlier." Gran said with Gabi following her into the kitchen.

"Not right now. There's someone who came to apply for a job."

"Why you look so down? That's a good thing."

"He's just strange...well his story is." She went on to tell Gran about Troy Bolton. When she was finished her grandmother was now also suspicious of the guy. She still agreed to go talk to the man while Gabi stayed in the house to cool off for a bit. His story was weird but the guy didn't seem like the type to hurt an old lady.

Gabi reached into the fridge to grab the lemonade mentioned moments ago and pour herself a glass while looking out the window. She saw Gran bend down to Troy's dog and greeted him first before holding out a hand to his owner. It wasn't like she could hear their conversation but she watched anyway. It was quick, five minutes barely passed before he and his dog walked away from the kennel. She assumed Gran had turned him down.

"You hired him?!" Gabi gave her grandmother a bewildered look. After Troy Bolton had gone, she walked over to have Gran drop the bomb.

"Yes dear, and please lower you voice. I'm old not deaf."

"But why? Aren't you suspicious? Don't you think he's...I don't know a killer? You usually pick up on people's motives quicker than me."

"Well I didn't pick up anything bad. I think we can trust him until something goes wrong." Gran started to walk away when she finished her sentence leaving Gabi in shock.

"That something wrong could be a murder!" She called after Gran.

"He starts on Wednesday." Right then a green truck pulled up the drive of the kennel. She had long forgotten that one of the dogs was to be picked up today as soon as Troy Bolton showed up.

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**AN:** Hopefully that wasn't a jumbled mess. Tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Troy honestly had no idea why he was here. Yes because of the picture but now what? Although Eileen or Gran as he was told to call her, trusted him enough to give him the job she was still suspicious. He couldn't tell them his whole story, atleast not yet.

It was two weeks since the day he made it to town. Troy had found a small place for him and Ace to stay, not only was it nice to have somewhere he could call home but it helped to ease some nerves with Gran and Gabriella. The house was about a half mile west of the kennel and he could cut through the forest as a way to work every day. It probably didn't save him much time but the route gave Ace a chance to roam.

The summer had come to an end and Gabriella was gone for most of the day with her job. Her son, whose name he learned was Kyle, went to the same school she taught at. Besides his name, Troy didn't know much about the kid. He had seen him while working, Kyle looked his way every now and then, either interested in him or what he was doing. Distance was kept though, Troy guessed it was more of Gabriella's doing than Kyle's.

"What's he doing?" Troy turned from watching Ace doing whatever in the river to see the little 7 year old looking at the dog with curiosity.

"Barking at fish, I guess."

"That's strange. Does he do that a lot?" Troy chuckled, nodding.

"Yeah, whenever I let him in the water on our walk."

"My mama said you walked all the way here from across the country!" Kyle exclaimed, his eyes starting to go wide.

"Your mom is right. Want some almonds?" Troy asked taking out a bag, it was lunch.

"She said you're a stranger, and I'm not supposed to take food from strangers."

"She's right again." Ace had finished his time in the river and came back to his owner with a stick in mouth ready to play "Bigger" Troy said. He knew if it was too small, Ace would snap it since he always got over excited.

"What's his name?"

"Ace."

"Why'd you name him that?" He had forgotten how many questions little kids liked to ask.

"It was his name when I got him. Just stuck I guess."

Kyle went quiet for a moment. He watched as Ace brought a biggest branch to Troy, who snapped off the little pieces to make it smoother before heaving. The dog sprinted after it, having no trouble chasing it down.

"We had a dog just like him! His name was Max. He's dead now, but mama said it was good for him for go cause he was old and it caused him more pain being alive than dying."

"She was probably right. You what Kyle? I'm gonna tell you something that you'll eventually learn, but why not let you get a head start. Nine out of ten times, women are right."

"Yuck no!" Troy chuckled at the little boy's expression when Ace returned, "Can I play with him?"

"Sure. Ace take it to Kyle," The dog looked between his owner and the kid then just cocked his head to the side, not recognizing the command. Troy grabbed the stick and used it to point, "Kyle. Take it to Kyle." He repeated.

Ace grabbed the stick again, walked over to Kyle and dropped it in front of him. Then he gave the boy a sniff.

"He knows you now. You could even play hide and seek if you wanted."

"Really? Your dog is smart Mr. Bolton!"

"Just Troy. Go ahead throw it."

"Can I throw it in the water?"

"Oh he'd loved that." Kyle smiled then heaved the branch with as much force as he could. Not a second after it left his hand Ace went running. "Wow! Look at him go!" Amazement showed in his eyes as Kyle watched Ace 'swim' to get the branch.

"Kyle! It's lunch time!" Troy turned and saw Gabi coming towards them. She froze for a second seeing Troy with her son.

"Mom! His dog is smart! He knows me!" On cue, Ace came trotting back soaking wet. He dropped the stick and shook the water out onto Kyle.

"Oh that's..great. Why didn't you tell me you were going out here?"

"I didn't think you cared. I always come out here."

"Um...well school's back on and I don't like you running around while you should be doing your homework."

"It's the weekend mom, and I don't ever have that much work."

"Just ask from now on, ok?" The look she gave him showed no further questions were to be asked.

"Sure mom. But can I play hide and seek with Ace?"

"What?"

"The dog! Troy said he can find me! He's smart mom!"

"I'm sure he is, but calm down Kyle. We on in to the house and take your bath. Dinner is almost on the table. We gotta get you to bed because dad's coming to pick up up early tomorrow."

"But-

"Kyle."

"Bye Troy." Kyle gave the man a small smile before stalking towards the house. Gabriella watched to make sure he was out of hearing range before turning towards Troy.

"I don't appreciate you talking to my son without my permission."

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt the kid." Troy said with a chuckle. Nothing was funny but seeing her mad was slightly amusing. She barely reached over his shoulders yet she stood glaring with a scowl on her face and hands on hips. It made her down right adorable, to be honest.

"I can't be sure about that can I? Know that if Kyle ever comes to me with the slightest of scratches on him after being anywhere close to you I can and will have you thrown in jail. I'm sure his dad would just love to put the handcuffs on you himself."

"Woah there. Now you're the one who needs to calm down. Have I caused any trouble since I've been here? No. So don't you come treating me like I'm some criminal getting ready to strike."

"Until I get the full story on you I will do as I please. It's not everyday something like this happens. I don't know what your story is Mr. Bolton, but I assure you that until I get it in full don't expect me to roll over and play nice." With that, she turned and stormed off.

Troy sighed. What was he supposed to do? Tell her? That would only lead to more trouble. He wouldn't speak the truth until it was absolutely necessary and lord knows when that'd be. Until then he'll just keep working and figure out what the hell he was even doing there.

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AN: So I feel like it has been forever since the last update and this chapter doesn't make up for it. But i wanted to introduce Kyle in something more than this is my son the end. This scene does take place in the book although there are some differences. I hope Gabriella didn't come off as too bitchy. Put yourself in her place ;)

Another note - I'm trying to make the chapters which back and forth from Troy and Gabriella each chapter so that is why I keep switching from calling her Gabi/Gabriella. That's just a minor thing though.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


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